Firebug
by millstone1005
Summary: There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect? Set in mid-season 1.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Firebug  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to _The O.C._. Not for profit.  
**Description:** There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to my new beta **fredsmith518 **for all of her valuable input.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Sandy whistled as he put his surfboard away in the garage, then put the Range Rover away. As he picked up _The Orange County Register_ from the front doorstep and headed into the kitchen for coffee, he couldn't help but smile happily with a bounce in his step. It was a glorious day. He had gotten to the beach just as the sun was coming up. Beautiful. Okay, so, not quite the same as back in New York where the sun rose over the ocean, but still – beautiful. And the surfing. The surfing was _incredible_. Six-foot waves. He smiled again as he remembered how he nailed them time after time.

Sandy settled in on the couch in the family room and opened the newspaper to see what was going on in the O.C. this week. But he kept getting distracted by thoughts about how good everything was going lately. He lowered the paper and stared at the blank TV, lost in thought for a moment. All the troubles with Ryan and Oliver seemed to be behind them now. Ryan had even gone with Seth and the rest of their friends to a ski resort a couple weekends back and seemed to have a good time. And Seth, well, Sandy had never seen his son happier, now that he was dating the girl of his dreams.

As for himself, everything was going smoothly with Jimmy and the restaurant. And he and Kirsten were doing great – except for that one little hiccup over Valentine's Day, which wasn't entirely unexpected – but other than that... Well, let's just say that last night he and his wife had outdone even themselves.

Sandy went back to reading the paper with a big grin on his face. He was just skimming, mostly thinking about his plans to spend the weekend with his family (along with some work on the restaurant), when a small headline in the _Police/Fire Blotter_ section caught his eye.

_Fire at Newport Beach's Harbor School_

"Oh, my god." Sandy pulled the newspaper closer to read the entire news item.

_The Newport Beach Fire Department responded to an alarm at The Harbor School at approximately 5:25 PM Friday night. The fire department reports that the blaze was extinguished quickly. The property damage was reportedly contained to one office. There were no injuries. The Newport arson investigator was at the scene but had no comment for reporters. The investigator's presence may indicate that the fire is thought to be of suspicious origin._

He read the item several times, then lowered the paper, not knowing what to think. A small fire wasn't serious, but what if it was arson? That was something else entirely. What if someone was targeting the school? You hear so much about school shootings. What if that was the next step, instead of an empty office after school hours?

Sandy drank the rest of his coffee while contemplating what he should do. Once he made his decision, he folded the paper to display the news item, put his cup away in the dishwasher, and headed off to the master bedroom to let Kirsten know what was going on.

* * *

When Ryan entered the kitchen from the pool house to get breakfast, Seth was already sitting at the kitchen island, eating cereal and reading a comic book. He looked up and smiled when Ryan came in. 

"Hey, man." Ryan reached around Seth and snagged a cereal bowl.

"_Good_ morning, Ryan!"

Ryan looked at Seth a little strangely as he sat down next to him and grabbed the box of cereal. Seth was even more hyper than usual for this time of the morning on a Saturday.

Seth continued, "So what are the plans for today? A little playstation perhaps? _X2_? Oh, I know! Let's go to the comic book store. Anna told me she saw a _Sandman_ there that I don't have."

Ryan looked at Seth, confused. "I thought you were hanging out with Summer today."

Seth shook his head. "Not until tonight, buddy. We have a date at six. So we have all day for a little Seth/Ryan time." Seth's face fell. "Unless... Did you make other plans? I saw you talking with Luke..."

Ryan shrugged. "We didn't really set anything up. And we were talking more about tomorrow anyway."

Seth smiled in relief. "Great! Then Seth/Ryan time it is. Comic book store?"

Ryan smiled back at Seth's enthusiasm. "Sure."

After a few minutes of silence as the boys ate their cereal and read comic books, Ryan heard footsteps and looked up to see Kirsten and Sandy coming into the kitchen. They both looked very serious. Ryan was suddenly worried. There was no reason that he knew of that they should look that way.

"Morning, boys." Kirsten greeted them without her usual enthusiasm.

Ryan and Seth both mumbled, "Morning," in response.

Sandy told them, "I'm glad you're both here. There's something we need to talk to you about."

Ryan exchanged a look with Seth, who looked just as worried and confused as Ryan felt. Obviously he didn't know what was going on any more than Ryan did. Unless...

Ryan studied Sandy and Kirsten. Did they find out what happened on the ski trip? Were he and Seth both in trouble now? Ryan held his breath and waited to hear what they had to say.

Kirsten nodded towards Sandy and the newspaper he was holding. "Did either of you know that there was a fire at Harbor yesterday?"

Ryan was taken aback. That was totally not what he was expecting to hear. "What? No. When?"

Seth shook his head. "Yeah, that's news to me, too. What happened?"

Sandy gestured with the newspaper. "It was in this morning's _Register_. Here, listen."

Sandy proceeded to read the news about the fire. Ryan couldn't believe it. It sounded like somebody set it on purpose. Why would anybody do that? It made no sense...

After reading from the paper, Sandy addressed the boys. "So neither of you were still at school when it happened?"

Seth and Ryan both shrugged and shook their heads.

Seth volunteered, "No. I left right after final bell and went over to Summer's."

"And what about you, Ryan? You had detention, right?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, but it got out at five, and I had no reason to hang around, so I just left."

Sandy glanced at the paper. "It says here the fire was at 5:25." He looked back up at Ryan. "So you were probably home by then –"

"Uh, no, actually. I walked home. I didn't get back until after six."

Kirsten looked questioningly at Ryan. "You _walked_ home?"

"Well..." Ryan felt a little embarrassed. He shrugged and took a quick look at Seth. "I didn't have my bike and everyone was already gone, so..."

Seth spoke up. "Hey, man, you could have called me at Summer's and we would have come and picked you up."

Ryan shook his head slightly. "I didn't want to bother you, and besides, I felt like walking." He looked back at Sandy and Kirsten, who looked like they wanted to apologize, or something. "It's fine, really. I like to walk home sometimes. No big deal."

"Oh. Okay..." Kirsten said, uncertainly, and looked at Sandy.

After a moment, Sandy cleared his throat and said, "Okay. So. Neither one of you were there. All right. Um... I'll go make some calls. See if I can find out more about what's going on with this fire." Sandy leaned over and kissed Kirsten on the cheek. "Don't worry, Honey. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about." Kirsten gave Sandy a little smile, then he headed off to his office.

Ryan heard Seth mutter to himself, "Wow, another fire." Then he stood up, gesturing towards his room. "I should go call Summer. Um... okay." Then he was gone, too.

Ryan took a deep breath and looked over at Kirsten, who gave him a slight smile. "Sandy's probably right. It's probably nothing. I'm sure Harbor will be back to normal in no time."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Well, I'm gonna..." And he left the kitchen as well.

In the pool house, Ryan flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't believe it. Another fire. Another arson. He just hoped that he wouldn't get blamed. But with his luck...

* * *

To Be Continued 

A/N: If anyone is curious about what happened on the ski trip, check out my story _Ryan's First Ski Trip_, listed on my profile page.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Firebug  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to _The O.C._. Not for profit.  
**Description:** There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to my new beta **fredsmith518 **for all of her valuable input.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

An hour later, Ryan was still lying on the pool house bed, staring at the ceiling, worrying about what might happen. He wasn't too worried about the police. He didn't start the fire, so he didn't see how they could have any evidence against him to prove otherwise. Although he didn't even want to _think_ about the possibility that someone might be trying to frame him.

Harbor, though, was another matter. He knew that he was never wanted at the private prep school. Dr. Kim and the school board, and in particular the parents, never wanted him to get in. Especially that woman who was the head of the parents' group. What was her name? Veronica something? God, what a bitch. He was sure that they were just waiting for an excuse to get rid of him. And if they tried to blame him for this...

Ryan sighed. He knew that he had gotten lucky after the whole Oliver thing not to get expelled. He figured that the board was just so embarrassed that they had let a psycho like Oliver into the school, that they just wanted to sweep the whole thing under the rug. Expelling him might have attracted attention, so that's why they let him stay. This time, he would have no such safety net.

Ryan was relieved when Sandy finally came out to the pool house. Maybe now he'd get some answers.

"Hey, kid, got a minute?"

"Sure." Ryan moved over to sit on the side of the bed.

Sandy sighed as he sat in the chair at the end of the bed. He had a pad of paper and a pen with him. Ryan couldn't see the paper very well, but it looked like it had notes written on it.

"So. I called my contacts in the police department and the D.A.'s office." Sandy gave Ryan a wry smile. "Let me tell you, Ryan, it is nice to have friends in the right places."

Ryan gave Sandy a little smile back.

Sandy got serious again. "Okay, so, here's the situation. The fire did start a little before 5:30, and according to the fire department, it was definitely set by someone intentionally." Sandy checked his notes. "It looks like this someone went into the chemistry lab and broke into a cabinet that held various chemicals. They took a couple jugs of flammable liquids. From there, they went into a teacher's office and apparently splashed the chemicals around and set them on fire."

Ryan raised his eyebrows. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow. Luckily, the school has a good smoke detector and sprinkler system, so it kept the fire from spreading too far. And the fire department was called automatically and they were there within minutes. They were able to get the fire out before it spread out of that office."

Ryan nodded thoughtfully. "Well, that's good anyway."

"Uh-huh."

Sandy cleared his throat and looked like he was gearing up to tell Ryan the rest. Ryan waited for the other shoe to drop.

Finally Sandy spoke. "Okay, Ryan, here's the problem."

Here we go, Ryan thought.

Sandy cleared his throat again. "The teacher whose office was torched was Mr. Schmidt."

Ryan sat up straighter and blinked his eyes rapidly. "Oh."

That wasn't good. Ryan had Mr. Schmidt for pre-calculus. The guy was a jackass. All the kids hated him. He and Ryan had had a few run-ins during the school year.

"Yeah." Sandy put down the pad of paper and leaned forward. "Look, the police are going to be looking at you anyway because of the model home, because of your arrest for arson –" Ryan was about to interrupt, but Sandy put up his hand to stop him. "Even though the charges were dropped. And the fact that you're on probation won't help matters, either. And now, with this..."

Sandy paused to take a breath and sat back. "I know that you and Mr. Schmidt have clashed –"

Ryan quickly interrupted. "I didn't do it. I swear. I would never –"

Sandy interrupted just as quickly. "I know that, Ryan. It never crossed my mind that you did it. Believe me. Kirsten and I, we _know_ without a doubt that you would never have done anything like this. I know we've had our problems, but we're behind you one hundred percent on this. Okay?"

Ryan was relieved. He gave Sandy a little smile. "Okay."

Sandy gave Ryan a tired smile back. "Good. But unfortunately, the police won't feel the same way. They're sure to find out that you and Mr. Schmidt have had a few run-ins, and that you had detention yesterday so you were at the school until five o'clock at least, _and_ that you're taking chemistry this year, too."

Ryan hung his head and fiddled with his wrist cuff. "It doesn't look good, does it?" But then he thought of something. He looked up at Sandy. "But wait, what about witnesses? Evidence?"

"The police, right now, are canvassing for witnesses or anybody else that knows anything. Unfortunately, the school doesn't have security cameras, so there's no tape. I guess there were lots of fingerprints on the chem lab door and cabinet, and in the parts of Mr. Schmidt's office that were not burned. They are running them now. Anything that was in the burned area, like fibers or whatever, would have been destroyed."

Ryan nodded thoughtfully. "You know, my fingerprints are probably –"

"Yeah. I know. But so are a lot of other students', so that shouldn't mean anything."

Ryan nodded.

After a moment, Sandy picked up his pad and pen again. "Okay, right now I need you to tell me everything that happened after you left school and before you got home. Maybe we can find you an alibi for the time of the fire and, if so, then all of these suspicions won't go anywhere."

Ryan took a deep breath. "I got out of detention at five –"

"What did you get detention for, again?"

"Um, well, Mr. Schmidt gave it to me." Sandy looked up at Ryan. His expression indicated that wasn't good. Ryan quickly explained. "He was yelling at this other kid for no reason and I couldn't stand it any more, so I told him to knock it off." Ryan shrugged. "Mr. Schmidt didn't like that very much and gave us both detention."

"Okay." Sandy sighed and made a note on his pad. "So you got out of detention at five and left right away? What, like two or three minutes after the hour?"

"Yeah, probably, something like that. I stopped by my locker before heading out."

"Did anybody see you leave campus?"

Ryan looked out the window and thought about it. He hadn't seen where the rest of the kids from detention went. They'd probably left while he was at his locker. Sports practices were also out at five o'clock, but at just a couple minutes past the hour, all the athletes would have been in the locker room, or finishing up practice if it ran late. Although there _were_ other after school activities that might have gotten out at five...

Ryan pictured the campus as he'd walked out of the building and through the parking lot on his way out. "Um... Yeah... There were a few people around. But I don't think any of them were paying attention to me."

"Okay." Sandy nodded and made some more notes. "Well, unfortunately, even if somebody saw you, it wouldn't really provide you with an alibi anyway, since there would have been plenty of time for you to circle around and come back twenty minutes later." Sandy looked at Ryan and smiled. "Not that I'm saying that you did that..."

Ryan smiled back. He knew that.

Sandy continued. "So, you walked home... Hold on, you said you got home after six, right? The school is only, what, two miles away? Shouldn't you have been home sooner than that?"

Ryan shook his head a little. "I didn't come straight home. I took a little detour."

Sandy made another note. "Where'd you go?"

"Over to Marissa's."

"Oh, good, so Marissa can say where you were?"

"She wasn't home. Her dad wasn't, either."

Sandy frowned. "Did _anybody_ see you during your walk home? I mean, probably people saw you, but anybody that would remember? Did you see anybody you knew? Did you talk to anybody?"

Ryan looked down. He went through his entire walk home in his mind. "No, sorry, nobody."

"What about the guard at the gate?"

Ryan thought about it. "He was busy. He wasn't even facing my way. I'm sure he didn't see me."

"What about when you got home? I know that Kirsten and I weren't home yet..."

"I think Seth was here, but I guess he was up in his room or something because I didn't see him." Ryan stared out the window for a moment. "In fact, I don't think I saw or talked to anybody until you came out here to tell me dinner was ready."

"Which was about 6:30." Sandy sighed and made a few notes. "So basically nobody saw you between 5:00 and 6:30?"

"I guess not." Ryan looked at Sandy, worried. "Is that bad?"

"No, not _bad_." Sandy sighed. "It's just... it would have helped if you had an alibi, that's all. They'd still need to have hard evidence against you to arrest and charge you, which they shouldn't be able to get since you didn't do anything."

Ryan looked down and nodded. Crap, why did he have to decide to walk home? If only...

Sandy finished making his notes. "Okay, well, the police will certainly want to talk to you as soon as possible. Remember, don't answer any questions without me present. If they come to you and want to talk, tell them you want a lawyer, and then they can't ask you anything until I'm there. Got it?"

"Yeah, okay, got it."

"Okay." Sandy stood up. "Well, I have a few more calls to make. Oh, yeah, also, I'm going to call your probation officer to let him know what's going on before the police call him. I'll make sure to let him know that you didn't do anything. Hopefully this will all blow over without any problems with your probation, which there shouldn't be since you didn't do anything."

Ryan smiled at Sandy. "Okay, thanks."

Sandy smiled back, then nodded to Ryan, and headed back into the main house.

Ryan flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling again. He sighed. Apparently he was a little hasty in dismissing any possible problems with the police. The possibility of getting expelled from Harbor didn't seem so important, now...

* * *

To Be Continued 


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Firebug  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to _The O.C._. Not for profit.  
**Description:** There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to my new beta **fredsmith518 **for all of her valuable input.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Thank you for calling, Dr. Kim."

After hanging up, Sandy sat in his office and stared at the phone for a moment, willing it not to ring again. The phones had been ringing non-stop all weekend – both the house phone and all their cell phones.

Between Kirsten fielding countless calls from those Newpsie vultures wanting to gossip about the whole thing, and himself keeping in touch with all his contacts at the police department and the D.A.'s office, not to mention the kids talking to all their friends, it seemed like the phone was never silent. Sandy had heard Seth talking to both Anna and Summer, who had apparently relayed all the information about the fire to Marissa. And Ryan had called Luke to warn him about the police, that they would probably want to talk to him too since he had been arrested with Ryan last summer.

And most recently, Dr. Kim had called to let them know that the police would be at Harbor on Monday. It looked like Seth and most of the other students would be interviewed as potential witnesses. Ryan, unfortunately, was among those who were requested to report to the Dean's office, with himself or Kirsten along, for a more targeted interview. Sandy tried to get more information from Dr. Kim, but that was all she knew.

So Sandy made plans to drive Ryan and Seth to school on Monday, so he could accompany Ryan to the interview, both as his guardian and as his lawyer, although he hoped Ryan wouldn't need the latter.

* * *

When the BMW pulled into Harbor's parking lot on Monday, Seth couldn't believe what a circus the school had become. He found himself gaping through the window, like a five-year-old going to the zoo for the first time. Students and parents and teachers and police all milled around. Some guy with a bullhorn was announcing that all students should report to the gym. It was total chaos. Seth couldn't remember ever seeing anything like it anywhere, not even the time when they were all eight and Chip Saunders had cut his head falling off the swing at the playground and there had been blood everywhere and he had screamed like a girl and an ambulance had come and all the kids and parents had been standing around watching... 

Seth took a deep breath. That was nothing compared to this. He couldn't stop staring, like watching a car wreck on the highway.

In light of the crowd, Seth wasn't surprised when the parking lot turned out to be jam-packed, and they had to make a U-turn and park way out at the end of a long line of cars strewn along the side of the street leading to the school. And he, his dad, and Ryan had to hike it back. On the way back, he saw how all of the police cars, parents' cars, and who-knew-what-else were using up all the free parking spaces. He even saw a red sedan with the fire department logo on it which said _arson investigator_. Seth remembered also seeing it at the site of the model home fire, just before Ryan had been arrested. He really hoped it wasn't a bad omen.

Seth took a quick look at Ryan, who was walking ahead of him. Seth sighed and watched him from behind for a minute. On the whole ride in, Seth had wanted to say something – _anything_ – that would help Ryan through this. He looked so tense and worried. Seth glanced at his dad, who was walking by Ryan's side. It didn't help things either that his dad looked kind of worried himself. The best he could come up with was _Hey, man, it'll be okay_. Which was totally lame. Seth shook his head in disgust at himself. But this whole thing was just so out of his league.

All weekend, in fact, Seth had scrambled to find something he could do to help Ryan. He had felt like he needed to apologize – for not giving him a ride home without being asked, or, _something_. He had even flirted with the idea of covering for Ryan, like they both did all the time with the parents. You know, like give Ryan an alibi – tell the cops that he was with him. But he didn't think his dad would go for that.

So Seth had resorted to doing what he did best: being the comic relief. He had tried to distract Ryan with playstation, movies, comic books, and even mindless rambling. At least all of that stuff was in his wheelhouse. Seth wasn't sure that it did Ryan any good, though, in terms of getting his mind off of his current troubles, but at least he had felt like he was doing _something_.

* * *

When the three of them finally arrived at the main steps of the school, they all kind of stopped and looked around. Seth himself was looking for Summer, who was supposed to meet him here at the steps, but he didn't see her anywhere. He stood on his tiptoes and tried to crane his neck up and over the heads of all these people to see if he could spot her. 

Before he saw her, though, he heard her. "Cohen!"

Seth smiled. There was no mistaking that voice. He looked in the direction Summer's voice had come from, but before he could find her, he, his dad, and Ryan were approached by a teacher.

"Ryan Atwood?"

Ryan looked at her. "Yes?"

"You're wanted in Dr. Kim's office."

Seth's dad replied, nodding. "Yes, thank you. We're on our way." The teacher nodded to them and moved away to find her next target.

Seth followed his dad and Ryan up the steps, thinking that Summer might be up there or, if not, at least at the top he'd have a better vantage point to look for her.

"_Cohen!_"

Now _that_ was impossible to miss. Seth smiled as he spotted his girlfriend at the top of the steps and hurried up to meet her. When he got there, he put his arm around her, and she clung to him in return, something that she never did, especially not in public. That just proved to Seth how much this situation had gotten to her. He held on to her tighter to try and comfort her. She smiled back at his efforts, but just for a moment. Soon the frown was back in place.

"God, Cohen, this is a nightmare. This semester was supposed to be all-time."

"I know. I know." He rubbed her back. "But it'll be over soon." Seth wished he really believed that.

Marissa was right there with Summer as well, and Seth nodded hello to her. But she wasn't paying attention to him. She was watching Ryan walk by with his dad on their way to the Dean's office. Once they were past, she asked so quietly that Seth barely heard her, "Is he okay?"

Seth shifted his gaze to watch Ryan, too. He didn't really know how to answer that. "No, not really. But my dad's with him, so..." Seth shrugged. Marissa nodded.

As Ryan walked out of sight, Seth sent a silent prayer to Jesus and Moses that everything would be okay.

* * *

Shortly, Seth, Summer, and Marissa were joined by Anna, and right after that, they all had to head off to the gym. A bunch of teachers had apparently decided it was time to herd all of the students to where they were supposed to be, instead of letting them mill around outside. 

Once they reached the gym, Seth had to shake is head in disbelief. If anything, it was _more_ chaotic in here than it had been outside. Almost all of Harbor's three hundred students were now packed into the gym, trying to figure out where they were supposed to go. There were signs up on every wall and teachers trying to direct the students into lines based on their last names. So that was how Seth found himself standing with Marissa in the line for the C's. He kept an eye out for Summer and was glad to see that she was able to stay with Anna in the line for the R's and S's.

Sooner than Seth would have expected, he found himself at the front of the line and heard "Next!" bellowed at him. He quickly stepped up to the table.

"Name?"

"Seth Cohen."

The woman behind the table searched her list, found his name, and crossed it out. Then she turned to look behind her. Seth followed her gaze and could see dozens of police officers sitting behind tables, interviewing students. A few chairs were empty.

"Number three."

Seth looked at the woman and nodded, then headed to table number three and sat down across from the policewoman there. She had a clipboard in front of her, with what looked like multiple copies of a form on it. The policewoman took a look at Seth and picked up her pen. She jotted down his answers to her questions on the form. Seth found the whole thing so ridiculous. He couldn't help but make snide comments in his head. On occasion he had to bite his tongue to keep from saying them out loud.

"Name?" _Not this again._

"Seth Cohen."

"Age?"

"Seventeen."

"Are you a junior or a senior?"

"Junior."

"Were you in school on Friday?"

"Yes."

"What time did you leave?"

"Right after final bell."

"You mean three o'clock?"

"Right." _What do you think, lady?_

"Did you come back to school at any time on Friday after you left?"

"No." _Yes, I came back and started the fire. Thanks for asking._

"Where were you at around 5:30 on Friday?"

"At my girlfriend's house. Summer Roberts." _Don't ask me what we were doing..._

"Is she a student here?"

"Yes." _Don't you people have lists?_

"Do you know anything about the fire that could help our investigation?"

"No." _Yes, I know Ryan didn't do it, but I doubt you people would listen to me._

"Did you see or hear anything suspicious on Friday, or in the days or weeks before, that may be related to the fire?"

"No." _Yes, I saw a kid carrying around a lighter, threatening to torch the school. What do you think?_

"Is there anything you want to add to your statement?"

"No. Nothing."

"All right."

The policewoman nodded and finished filling in the form. She removed it from her clipboard and turned it around and placed it on the table facing Seth.

"Please review this statement and sign at the bottom."

She handed Seth a pen. Seth read through her notes, signed the bottom where she had indicated, and then returned the form.

"Thank you. Please exit through the door behind me and to my left." She gestured behind her where she meant. "If you hear, see, or remember anything that could help the investigation, please contact the Newport police to report it."

Seth nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

He thought about telling this lady that if he heard anything about the fire, he'd tell his dad, not the police, but he figured that this was not the place to say that, nor the person to say it to. She probably had no idea who he was, who his father was, who Ryan was...

Seth nodded to her, stood up, and walked out of the gym, through the door she pointed out. He thought about leaving, and maybe heading over to Dr. Kim's office to check on Ryan, but he wanted to wait for Summer (and Anna and Marissa). While he was waiting, he looked off in the direction of the Dean's office. He wondered how Ryan was doing.

* * *

To Be Continued 


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Firebug  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to _The O.C._. Not for profit.  
**Description:** There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to my new beta **fredsmith518 **for all of her valuable input.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

When Ryan and Sandy got to the Dean's office on Monday morning, Ryan was hoping they could get in right away – you know, get it over with – but instead they were directed to wait. There were some other students, including Luke, already waiting outside the office with their parents. Ryan sighed. He guessed he'd just have to wait his turn. At least he could take some solace in the fact that he wasn't the only one being singled out for special treatment.

Ryan nodded hello to Luke then sat down next to him. Sandy greeted Luke's father Carson as well, before sitting on the other side of Ryan. Ryan took a deep breath and settled in to wait. To pass the time, he studied the other students. One was the other kid who got detention from Mr. Schmidt on Friday. He figured that would be why that kid got called in. The others, Ryan didn't recognize. Probably more kids who hated Mr. Schmidt's guts. Although what student who'd ever had him as a teacher didn't?

After a few minutes, Dr. Kim's door opened and a man who looked like a detective called Luke inside. Ryan and Luke exchanged a look as Luke got up and headed into the office with his father. After the door closed, Ryan exchanged a look with Sandy and then settled in to wait some more.

And then some more…

After what seemed like forever, Luke emerged and another student was called in. It _seemed_ like forever, but looking at his watch, Ryan saw that, in fact, Luke's interview lasted only ten minutes. Time went so slowly when you were waiting. Ryan and Sandy both stood up when Luke and Carson came out. The two fathers went off to confer, while Ryan met up with Luke.

"How was it?" Ryan whispered.

Luke whispered back, "Not too bad. There was this cop and this arson guy. They asked me about the model home fire." Luke shrugged. Ryan nodded. That was to be expected. "They asked some other questions about Mr. Schmidt and stuff –"

"Do you have him for math?"

Luke shook his head. "No, thank god. Never have. And I hope I never will. Jackass." Ryan gave Luke a half-smile in agreement. "So anyway, they asked where I was at the time of the fire. I was with my dad." Luke looked over at his father. Ryan followed his gaze. "My dad confirmed it. I went to his place for the weekend, thank god." Luke looked at Ryan and shrugged again. "And that was pretty much the end of it."

Ryan gave Luke a nod and a smile, thinking that Luke was lucky to have an alibi that cleared him. Ryan wished that he was that lucky.

* * *

When Ryan was finally called in to the Dean's office for his interview, Sandy was relieved to finally get to it. He could see Ryan becoming more and more tense the more they waited and other kids got called in ahead of him. Sandy was glad, though, to have gotten some good information from Carson. At least he knew who was in there and what kinds of questions they were asking. He didn't recognize the name of the police detective, and he'd never had reason to work with the arson investigator before, but he figured he could work with that. 

When Sandy entered the office behind Ryan, the detective and another man (whom Sandy assumed was the arson investigator) were standing behind Dean Kim's desk waiting for them. He and Ryan were directed to the chairs in front. The detective greeted Ryan, then held out his hand to Sandy.

"Detective Mike Lowell."

Sandy took the detective's hand. "Sandy Cohen. I'm Ryan's guardian, and his attorney."

"Sandy Cohen? From the P.D.'s office?"

Sandy gave a minimal nod. "Right. I was. I'm with a private firm now."

The detective nodded, then indicated the man with him. "And this is Arson Inspector Alex Gonzalez."

Sandy shook his hand as well, nodding a greeting. Inspector Gonzalez nodded back. Then everyone took their seats. The detective picked up a file folder from the desk and opened it.

"I assume we all know why we're here."

Detective Lowell proceeded to outline the facts of the case. To Sandy, it sounded like a rehearsed speech. He figured the detective must have gone over this five times already with the other kids. He was glad to hear that the detective's version of events matched the information that he had gotten over the weekend from his contacts. Not that he expected anything different.

After the officer finished his recitation, he flipped through some pages in the file and started in with the questions for Ryan.

"Okay, Ryan." He looked up at the boy he was addressing. "Why don't we start with your arrest last summer, where you were charged with arson for a home fire. Why don't you tell me about that?"

Ryan started to answer, defensively, shaking his head a little. "That was –"

Sandy interrupted. He intended to do most of the talking – as Ryan's attorney – just to make sure that Ryan didn't get upset and say something that… well, something that wasn't really a good idea to say to the police when they suspected you of another crime. And anyway there was no need for Ryan to go over the facts of the model home fire again. The police already had that information.

Sandy told them, "That fire was an accident. Some candles got knocked over. The charges were dropped, and Ryan was released." Sandy indicated the file in the detective's hands. "Ryan's statement at the time, along with Luke Ward's, are in the police report. Everything is in there. Ryan has nothing to add."

Sandy shared a look with Ryan, trying to tell him silently to let him do most of the talking. Sandy interpreted Ryan's return look to mean that he understood and was grateful that Sandy was handling things. Or maybe Sandy was reading a little too much into it. Either way, Sandy intended to continue.

The detective, on the other hand, was looking daggers at Sandy. He looked to be quite unhappy that he wasn't able to get Ryan talking about the other fire. Sandy suppressed a little smirk of satisfaction. He knew how these cops worked, trying to trip up suspects and get them to say something incriminating, even if they didn't do anything wrong. He was determined not to let that happen with Ryan.

Detective Lowell went back to flipping through the file, saying "Mmmm…" unhappily to himself. He finally found what he was looking for. "And you're currently on probation for grand theft auto –"

Sandy interrupted. "That was pled down to a misdemeanor. And yes, Ryan's on probation, and he has complied with the terms of it. You're welcome to talk to his probation officer. He'll tell you the same thing."

Detective Lowell shot a look of pure annoyance at Sandy. "Yes, we intend to."

After a few moments of scowling at Sandy, the officer closed the folder he had been reading and opened up another folder that Sandy recognized as Ryan's school file. He flipped through it, until he got to the page he wanted.

"I see here, Ryan, that you are taking Chemistry this year." He looked up at Ryan, who nodded.

Sandy interjected. "And so are a lot of other students."

Detective Lowell this time didn't even spare Sandy a glance, but continued. "And you have Mr. Schmidt for Pre-Calculus. It says here that you've had a little trouble with him, including the detention that he gave you Friday. Tell me about that."

Ryan looked at Sandy with eyebrows raised, asking if he should answer. Sandy nodded back, hoping that Ryan would keep his cool and just state the facts. Ryan proceeded to relate basically the same information that he had told Sandy in the pool house on Saturday, about defending the other student. The detective asked a few questions, looking for more detail, which Ryan answered. Sandy was gratified to see Ryan stay calm and not go into a rant about what a jackass Mr. Schmidt was, although he figured that was probably what Ryan was thinking. But Ryan was smart enough not to say it aloud. Good.

After that line of questioning was done, Sandy gave Ryan a little nod and a smile to let him know that he did good. Ryan smiled his thanks back.

Then the detective got to the tricky part. "Okay, Ryan, final question. Tell me where you were on Friday at 5:30."

After a quick look at Sandy, Ryan took a deep breath and related his story about leaving school at five o'clock and walking home. Lowell again asked questions, obviously trying to poke holes in Ryan's story, questioning why a sixteen-year-old with his driver's license would walk home, why he didn't call for a ride, and so forth. To Ryan's credit, he kept his cool, again, and just answered the questions, firmly reiterating that he did walk home and why.

At the end of it all, the detective – even without being able to make Ryan admit to anything – seemed pleased. "So, do I have this correct that you didn't see anybody or talk to anybody after you left school until dinnertime?"

"Right."

Ryan looked nervously at Sandy. He knew that it wasn't a good thing that he didn't have an alibi. Sandy tried to send Ryan a reassuring look. He wasn't sure if it worked.

Lowell finished making his notes about the interview and then stood up. Ryan and Sandy followed suit.

"All right, then, we'll be in touch."

Sandy shook the detective's hand. "We'll be waiting to hear from you."

Finally, the interrogation over, Sandy and Ryan exited the Dean's office.

In the hallway, Ryan dropped into a chair, spent. Sandy sat down beside him. All the other chairs were empty now, since Ryan was the last to go in. Sandy was glad of that. He patted Ryan on the arm. "You did good, kid. You kept your cool."

Ryan gave Sandy a look. "Thanks. But really, how do you think it went? That detective –"

"Well... yeah… well…" Sandy sat back and sighed. "It went as well as could be expected. He asked the questions we expected to be asked, right? We gave him the answers. They don't have anything they can prove. There's enough to make you a suspect, but that's it. They'll talk to your P.O., keep investigating…"

Ryan looked away, frowning. Sandy put his arm around Ryan's shoulders. "Look, there's nothing we can do now, until they get back to us. So try not to worry."

Ryan nodded curtly. Sandy knew that Ryan would worry – and brood – but there was nothing he could do about it.

Sandy stood up. "Come on, kid. Let's go home."

* * *

To Be Continued 


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** Firebug  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to _The O.C._. Not for profit.  
**Description:** There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

**Author's Note:** My beta **fredsmith518 **deserves credit for giving me some ideas for this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Kirsten stood in the kitchen looking out at the pool house while she waited for the coffee to finish brewing. The shades were still down, which was not really that unusual for that time of the morning on a Saturday. But she was willing to bet that Ryan was already awake, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. He'd been doing a lot of that in the past week, ever since they'd learned about the fire at Harbor.

Kirsten sighed. Poor Ryan, he just couldn't seem to catch a break. Okay, some of it was self-inflicted, but even when he _wasn't_ doing anything to invite it, trouble always seemed to find him. Kirsten wondered if he'd automatically be suspected every time there was a fire – or a stolen car – anywhere in his vicinity. She laughed to herself at the absurdity of the question. If she knew anything about the Newpsies, the answer was obviously _yes_. Poor kid.

God, those Newpsies, what a bunch of shrews. Kirsten had pretty much had to stop answering the phone and let the machine get it – and she had to screen the calls on her cell – because of them. And Julie was the worst: bad-mouthing Ryan, jumping to the assumption that of course he had set the fire, without any proof. Julie had been making catty comments to her all week about how they would all be better off if she and Sandy threw him out.

Kirsten was tired of having to defend her family – and that included Ryan – to Julie, the Newpsies, and worst of all, her father. God, her father. He was being an ass about this whole thing, too. He had never liked Ryan, accusing him of being after their money. Ridiculous. Her dad had become one of the most vocal ones campaigning to get rid of him. Finally, Kirsten had had to ban the topic of Ryan and the fire altogether from the office, just to get some work done.

Kirsten sighed again. She couldn't wait until all of this was over and Ryan was cleared. Maybe then they could all finally get on with their lives.

A few seconds later, the coffeemaker beeped, signaling that it was finished. Kirsten poured two cups of coffee and headed out to the pool house. She paused just outside the door and took a deep breath. She was going in. Carefully holding both cups in one hand, she knocked and then opened the door.

"Ryan? I thought you might like some coffee."

Kirsten stepped inside the doors and waited as Ryan shuffled himself over to sit on the side of the bed. She'd been right. He had been lying on the bed, mostly on top of the covers – with just his feet underneath – and staring at the ceiling.

Once he was settled, she went over and handed him his coffee. He took it with both hands. "Thanks."

She smiled at him. Polite no matter what, that was her Ryan. "You're welcome."

Kirsten sat down in the chair at the foot of the bed. It felt weird to be sitting there. She thought of this as Sandy's chair, or maybe Seth's, since they both sat in it a lot. She hardly ever did. Then again, how often did she come out to the pool house to talk to Ryan?

Kirsten watched as Ryan held his cup in both hands and blew on the coffee to cool it before taking a careful sip. She took the opportunity to sip her own coffee before starting.

"How are you doing?"

Ryan took his eyes off his coffee to look over at her. "I'm okay."

"Are things any better at school?"

Seth had been reporting to her and Sandy all week that Ryan had been getting harassed at school, with comments and looks, and mumblings of _firebug_ behind his back. Junior Newpsies at work.

"Not really. I just..." Ryan looked away and blinked a few times.

"What?" She prodded him gently.

Ryan looked back at her. Kirsten waited while he gathered his thoughts.

"It's just... Things were just calming down after the Oliver thing, you know? And now this..." Ryan sighed and went back to sipping his coffee.

Kirsten nodded. She knew, also thanks to Seth, that Ryan had had some problems with the other students recently, after they had watched him attack Oliver in the student lounge in January. It seemed as though some of the students had become afraid of him after that and had taken to avoiding him. Others had taken to whispering behind his back about how he was just a thug and didn't belong there with the civilized folks.

Kirsten was glad to hear that those sorts of things had finally started letting up. The current problems would, too. Eventually.

She leaned forward and tried to reassure her foster son. "Everything's going to be okay, Ryan. Once you're cleared, this will all blow over. Everything will get back to normal."

Kirsten tried to sound more confident of that than she really was. But Ryan saw right through her. He scowled, responded with just "Mmm..." and went back to drinking his coffee.

Kirsten decided it was time to change the subject to something more positive. She sat back and sipped her coffee for a few moments, then she smiled at Ryan and intentionally lightened her voice.

"So. Your birthday is coming up. What do you want to do? I was thinking –"

Ryan interrupted, "No party." He quickly looked apologetic. "Sorry. I just mean, I'd rather not have a party, if that's okay."

Kirsten frowned at Ryan in confusion. If anything, mentioning his birthday had darkened his mood even further. A thought made her suddenly catch her breath. She remembered what he had said at Chrismukkah about his holiday memories, that they consisted of his mom being drunk and him getting beaten up. Hearing him say that had made her shudder. And if that was anything to go by, as far as his childhood was concerned, she didn't even want to know about his birthdays.

Kirsten plastered the smile back on her face. "Sure, whatever you want, Sweetie. It's your birthday. How about a nice family dinner? Maybe a barbecue? Sandy could make steak, swordfish, whatever you want."

Ryan brightened a little. He gave her a half-smile. "Sure. Sounds good."

Kirsten nodded. "Great."

After a moment, Kirsten took a deep breath and stood up. "Well, I'll let you finish your coffee. Please have some breakfast, too. You really should eat something."

Ryan gave her a little half-smile. It seemed he appreciated her effort, at least. "Yeah, thanks, I will."

Kirsten smiled back briefly and then headed out of the pool house. She hoped her little visit had done some good, and hadn't made things worse. She'd have to remember to talk to Sandy about Ryan's birthday.

* * *

Ryan levered himself up off the bed and went up the pool house steps to go take a shower and get dressed. He didn't really even want to get out of bed, but Seth had arranged this whole breakfast thing at the diner with all their friends – all for him – and he didn't want to let them down. 

Ryan sighed as he grabbed his clothes for the day. That was nice of Kirsten to bring him coffee and try to make him feel better. Although she had kind of blindsided him by asking about his birthday. He hadn't even been thinking about his birthday, what with all the drama lately. He really hoped that she and Sandy – and especially Seth – wouldn't try to give him a party. He really hated birthday parties. Ryan shook off unwelcome thoughts and headed for the shower.

Thirty minutes later, Ryan walked into the diner with Seth. He spotted Luke, Anna, Marissa, and Summer sitting in the corner and headed over there. They all greeted each other, and Seth and Ryan joined their friends in the booth. After they had all ordered, an uncomfortable silence descended on them all, as if nobody wanted to start talking about the elephant in the room, the fire.

Finally, Marissa put her hand gently on Ryan's arm. "Have you heard anything?"

"No, not really. Well, you know, Sandy's been keeping up with the investigation. They talked to my P.O., and he says that went fine."

Marissa smiled. "Oh, good."

"Yeah, and some of the suspects have been cleared I guess." Ryan looked over at Luke. "Like Luke."

Luke grinned. "Yeah. I was with my dad. It's a good thing I wasn't..." At that, Luke faltered and seemed to stop himself from saying something he didn't want to. He finished, lamely, "Um... somewhere else."

Ryan looked at Luke in confusion, wondering what he was going to say, but Luke was looking down and fiddling with his silverware, so Ryan just shrugged it off.

Marissa picked up the conversation. "Look, I'm sorry I wasn't home when you came by on Friday. If I was, none of this would be happening."

Ryan quickly reassured her. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known."

Summer spoke up. "Yeah, hey, Coop, where were you again?"

"My mom." Marissa sighed. "God, she's so crazy these days. I won't see her for weeks, then suddenly she wants uninterrupted mother-daughter time." She rolled her eyes. "Last weekend she wanted to spend the entire weekend with me and Kaitlin, shopping and stuff. She's so lame."

Ryan nodded in agreement. Parents. Luke looked like he wanted to say something, then stopped. He was acting kind of strange these days. At that point, their food came and they all spent a few minutes silently eating. Once they had all settled in, the conversation picked up again.

Anna spoke up. "Ryan, I'm so sorry about what you're going through. Is there anything I can do?"

Ryan smiled at Anna. She was always so nice. "No, not really."

Anna nodded, then shook her head. "I can't believe that someone would actually set a fire at our school." She shuddered.

Seth asked her, "Have you met Mr. Schmidt?"

Seth had Mr. Schmidt freshman year. Ryan knew that he didn't get along with Mr. S. either.

Anna responded, "Yeah, but Seth, arson? Who would do that? Do you think it is somebody at school? Like, one of our classmates?"

The friends all looked at each other, like they hadn't thought of that possibility or what that might mean. An arsonist at their school? That was kind of scary.

Marissa asked them all, "Who do you think it could be?"

Luke suggested, "What about Saunders, Nordlund, those guys? They're all jerks. They could have done it for kicks."

Seth muttered under his breath, "You mean your old friends?" Luke shot Seth a brief glare.

Next, Summer spoke up. "What about Holly? I mean, if she'd sleep with her best friend's boyfriend... Oh. Sorry, Luke." But he just shrugged.

Then Seth threw in, "What about Leon and those guys? It's always the geeky ones who get picked on all the time, right?"

Luke laughed and punched Seth on the arm. "That could be you, Cohen."

Seth rubbed his arm. "Thanks, Luke."

Luke looked at Ryan, all excited. "Hey, Chino! We should like figure it out ourselves. You know, start our own investigation. Like, go undercover and stuff. Who knows the school better than us? Come on. We make a good team."

Ryan chuckled. "I don't think that's a good idea..."

Luke proceeded to outline his undercover idea, about how they'd all be like all _Mission: Impossible_. Ryan laughed along with everyone else, throwing in his own outlandish ideas.

Somewhere along the way, Ryan started having a good time. He looked over at Seth and nodded his thanks. Seth nodded back, glad he could help.

* * *

To Be Continued 


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** Firebug  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to _The O.C._. Not for profit.  
**Description:** There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to my new beta **fredsmith518 **for all of her valuable input.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Sandy was livid. It was Monday afternoon, and he'd just gotten a call telling him that Ryan was at the police station and that his presence was required. The woman that he had talked to couldn't – or wouldn't – give him any information other than that. Sandy couldn't believe it. Someone was going to get his ass handed to him when he got there. They _knew_ they weren't supposed to talk to Ryan without him. And the chances that the police picked him up for something other than the fire were pretty miniscule.

When Sandy got to the Newport police station, he was directed to an interrogation room, where he found Detective Lowell with Ryan. They both stood up when Sandy entered. After checking to make sure that Ryan looked like he was okay, Sandy directed his fiercest glare at Lowell.

Det. Lowell was immediately conciliatory. "Mr. Cohen –"

"What the _hell_ do you think you are doing? Dragging Ryan down here without me? I could have your badge for this."

He held up his hands as if to ward Sandy off. "Mr. Cohen, I promise, we didn't ask Mr. Atwood any questions. We were waiting until you got here."

Sandy continued to scowl at the detective, and told him sternly, "If you want to talk to Ryan, you contact _me_."

"I'm sorry. It was a... mistake."

Sandy didn't buy it for a minute. He knew that the police were getting desperate. It had been ten days since the fire, and they were no closer to solving the crime now than they were the day that it had happened. He knew that Ryan was their primary suspect, but they had no solid evidence against him. So they were probably willing to cut corners to try and trick Ryan into incriminating himself. Sandy wasn't about to let that happen.

Sandy continued to glare at Lowell. "I'd like to speak to my client. Now." He gestured at the two-way mirror. "Alone."

Detective Lowell nodded. He knew what Sandy was getting at. Nobody was allowed to listen in on privileged attorney-client conversations.

"Of course." Lowell and the officer who had opened the door for Sandy both left.

Sandy took a deep breath and looked at Ryan, who didn't look happy, but didn't look like he was traumatized, either, which was good. Sandy gave Ryan a little smile and directed him to sit at the table with his back to the two-way mirror. Just to be on the safe side. Sandy sat next to him.

Once they were seated, Sandy looked at Ryan more closely. "Are you okay, kid?"

"Yeah." Ryan rubbed his forehead absently. "Yeah."

"What happened?"

Ryan took a deep breath. "I was just getting out of school, and these two officers came up to me and told me that I was wanted at the police station. I remembered what you said, and told them that I wanted you with me. They said that you'd meet me here, but that I had to come with them."

"And when you got here? Did they ask you any questions?"

"They put me in here with that detective –"

"Lowell."

Ryan nodded. "Right. And no, he didn't ask me any questions."

Sandy breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. That's good."

"But he wouldn't shut up, though."

Sandy studied Ryan for a moment. That didn't sound good. It was illegal to ask a suspect questions without his attorney present. It wasn't technically illegal to merely talk to him, but it was pretty unethical. Sandy wasn't particularly surprised that Lowell had stooped to that level.

"What did he say?"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "About what you'd expect. Like how it was inevitable that they were going to find evidence against me, and that I'd be better off if I just told them what really happened. Blah, blah, blah."

Sandy smiled. "But you didn't fall for that for a minute."

Sandy was relieved when Ryan smiled back. "Right."

"Good." Sandy sighed. "Well, this isn't over, though. Now that I'm here, they'll start in with the questions. They'll try to provoke you. So just... stay calm and let me handle it, all right?"

Ryan nodded. Sandy patted him on the back.

Sandy took a quick look at the mirror behind him. He knew that the detective and other officers and maybe even the D.A. would probably be back there, watching. So he waved at them to come in. He wasn't surprised when it was just seconds later that the door opened and Detective Lowell came in.

* * *

Det. Lowell was emphatic. He stabbed the folder he was holding. "All of the evidence points to Ryan." 

Sandy was just as emphatic. "_Circumstantial_ evidence. You have no hard evidence. Circumstantial evidence proves nothing!"

"He has a history of arson."

Ryan caught his breath at that.

But Sandy had a response. "That wasn't arson. It was an accident. The charges were dropped."

Lowell sneered. "By your _wife_."

"By her _company_. She did not make the decision alone."

Lowell was insistent. "Ryan has a history of criminal behavior. He's on probation. He's been suspended from school..."

Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The detective was hitting a little too close to home. Ryan was glad that Sandy was there to handle things. He looked at Sandy, a little embarrassed. After meeting Ryan's gaze, Sandy answered the detective, more calmly.

"That was a mistake. All kids make mistakes. It doesn't make him a criminal." Sandy looked back at the detective. "And it doesn't mean that he committed _this_ crime. You should know that, Detective."

"We have motive. Ryan has had problems with Mr. Schmidt." The officer glanced down at Ryan's school record. Ryan could guess what was in it. "Mr. Schmidt has given Ryan detention three times since the start of the school year, including the day of the fire. And there's a reprimand from Mr. Schmidt on his record."

Sandy shook his head in exasperation. "Come on, Lowell. You've got to know by now that none of the students like Mr. Schmidt. He gives students detention all the time. And suspensions, too. Ryan's hardly the only one who has tangled with him, and not the worst by far."

Ryan nodded to himself. That was so true. He could name a couple of students in his math class alone who had clashed with Mr. S. more than he had.

The detective wasn't deterred. "And we have means. Ryan is taking Chemistry this year. He knows the chemistry lab, where things are, what chemicals to use. And his fingerprints were found on the cabinet that was broken into."

Sandy sighed. "Of course his fingerprints are on the cabinet. He takes Chemistry! Like you just said. Along with plenty of other students. As far as knowing the chem lab goes, anybody who has taken chemistry at Harbor – now or in the past – or actually at any school could guess what would be there. And the chemicals had warning labels about being flammable. So that means nothing."

The detective scowled, but continued, "And we have opportunity. Ryan was at the school, confirmed, until five o'clock. And he has no alibi for the time of the fire."

Ryan looked down. He knew that the lack of an alibi would come back to haunt him. He looked at Sandy, who looked like he was starting to get a little fed up with the questioning.

"Detective. Again, there were plenty of other students at the school until five o'clock. Other students at detention, multiple sports had after-school practices, not to mention other after-school activities. And as far as an alibi goes..." Sandy glanced at Ryan then back to Detective Lowell. "You know as well as I do that not having an alibi doesn't prove anything. Most people can't account for every hour of every day. You can't prove that Ryan _wasn't_ where he said he was."

Ryan looked at the detective to see what his reaction to that would be. He seemed to be out of questions. He was leafing through the folder, apparently looking for something else to argue for Ryan's guilt.

Sandy seized the opportunity. He leaned forward on the table. "Look, Detective. Face it, you have no case. You have no witnesses, no incriminating statements from Ryan or any supposed accomplices, no video tapes, no scientific evidence, nothing. You don't even know if Mr. Schmidt was the intended target. Maybe the arsonist was targeting the school in general. Maybe it was just a prank. You don't know anything."

Sandy's speech seemed to incense the detective. He also leaned forward on the table. "Mr. Cohen, I know Ryan did it. Everything points to him. I just can't prove it. But I will."

"Well, Detective Lowell, until you can, this interrogation is over. In fact, leave Ryan alone until and unless you have new evidence. Otherwise, I'll sue you for police harassment. Believe that."

The detective stood up, grabbing his paperwork as he went. "Fine. But this isn't over. Believe _that_." Then he stormed out.

After he left and Ryan was left alone with Sandy, he let go of the breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. He looked over at Sandy, who reached over and rubbed his arm.

"Don't worry, kid. They have nothing. And without hard evidence, there is no way they can charge you. Don't listen to Lowell."

Ryan sighed and looked in the direction that the detective had left. "I've seen the way these cops and lawyers look at me, Sandy. My record, my family..."

"It doesn't matter what they believe, only what they can prove. And they can't prove anything. Okay?"

Ryan looked back at Sandy and sighed. "Yeah, okay."

But he wasn't entirely convinced.

* * *

To Be Continued 


	7. Chapter 7: end

**Title:** Firebug  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing related to _The O.C._. Not for profit.  
**Description:** There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

**Author's Note:** This is the final chapter. This story is finished. Thanks so much to everybody who reviewed/commented. And a final thanks to **fredsmith518 **for her beta work.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Kirsten paused in the middle of setting the table for dinner, smiling to herself at the happy-teenager sounds which were emanating from the family room. She stood next to the kitchen table for a minute and watched Seth and Ryan, who were deeply engrossed in playing their video game. Usually, she and Sandy had the boys do chores, like setting the table, but today she decided to let them keep playing. Ryan sounded so happy – for the first time in a while – and she didn't want to disturb that.

Kirsten sighed. The past few weeks, since Ryan had been dragged down to the police station and interrogated, had been tense all around. Everyone just sitting around and waiting to hear. Hear something. Anything. And they hadn't. Heard anything, that is. Well, nothing official anyway. Sandy, of course, was still in touch with his contacts, who were keeping him up-to-date on the detective's activities. Sandy kept saying that it was good they hadn't heard anything officially; it meant that the cops hadn't found any evidence against Ryan.

Kirsten frowned. While that might be true, she just wished that all this would just be over and done with. Soon. For Ryan's sake. At least all of the comments about Ryan's presumed involvement had died down a little, both at school and with the Newpsies, what with nothing happening in the last weeks. That was good, anyway.

Kirsten's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the front door close.

"Good evening, family!" Kirsten smiled. Sandy.

As she waited for her husband to appear, she heard the video game sounds go off in the family room. Obviously, Seth and Ryan had heard Sandy come home, too. He walked into the kitchen with a big smile and several bags of take-out, which he set down on the kitchen island. When Kirsten went over to open them up, Sandy leaned over and planted a big kiss on her cheek.

She giggled. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"I've got good news." He looked around. "Where are the boys?" Just then, they walked into the kitchen. "Oh, good. Could you guys finish setting the table while your mother and I get the food out?"

Ryan replied, "Sure."

While the boys went ahead and did as requested, Kirsten started pulling the food out of the containers. She snuck a glance at Sandy, who was grabbing some drinks from the fridge. She hoped that his good news was what she thought it was.

* * *

Finally, they were finished eating dinner. Sandy had made them wait for his good news until then. 

"Okay, Sandy. We're done. Now, if you don't tell us what's going on, I promise you, you'll be lonely tonight."

Seth groaned and covered his ears. "Ew, Mother. Too much information." Kirsten and Sandy laughed at Seth's discomfort.

Sandy finally gave in. "Okay, okay. I got a call today, from Hodes, the A.D.A. You remember him?" After receiving a few nods, Sandy continued, "He told me that the police are dropping the case."

Kirsten was ecstatic. She gave Ryan a smile. "That's _great_! I am so glad this is over."

Ryan smiled back and gave a sigh of relief.

Seth reached over and grabbed Ryan's shoulder. "Dude, we _so_ have to give you a party. Since you didn't get one on your birthday –"

Sandy put his hands up. "Hold on, everybody. This doesn't mean that the case is _closed_."

At a couple confused looks from the boys, he explained, "It's... you know... like you see on TV, a cold case file?" The boys nodded. "The police have done all the investigating they can. They've sifted through all the evidence, talked to anybody and everybody who might know anything –"

Seth mumbled under his breath, "No kidding."

Kirsten figured he was thinking about how he and the other students had been all herded into the gym to be interviewed at the school.

Sandy continued as if Seth hadn't spoken, "– pursued all possible suspects, and haven't been able to solve the case. So they've dropped the investigation."

Kirsten was still confused. "But what about Ryan?"

Sandy looked at Ryan with compassion. "This is good and bad for you, Ryan." Sandy pushed aside his empty plate and leaned forward on the table. "You won't be bothered by the police about this any more. And this means that they are giving up, for now anyway, on trying to prove that you did it. There is no chance now that you'll be arrested."

Ryan gave Sandy a half-smile.

Sandy continued. "That's the good news. The bad news is that the case will be left open, and you'll still be listed as the prime suspect. It will still be on your record that way."

Ryan's face fell. He looked down and started picking at his leftover food, not meeting anyone's eyes.

Kirsten couldn't blame him for reacting like that. It really didn't sound very good. She sighed. She could just hear it now. Everybody would be saying that of course Ryan did it and how horrible it was that he was able to get away with it. It made her blood boil, just thinking about how that was what people would think. She looked at Ryan. Poor kid.

Seth spoke up. "But wait." He looked at Ryan. "What about Luke's suggestion? We can all get together and try to figure out who did it. You know, go undercover and –"

Sandy interrupted. "Seth. That's not going to do any good. The police have been investigating for weeks and haven't been able to find proof, one way or the other. And the private investigator we hired to try and clear Ryan couldn't find anything, either. I don't think you kids are going to be able to do any better."

Ryan agreed. "Yeah, Seth. Just drop it, okay?"

Seth sighed in defeat. "Yeah, okay." After a moment, he continued. "But I don't get it, then. Who actually set the fire? Were they trying to frame Ryan? Or was that like, a coincidence?"

Kirsten answered. "We'll probably never know, Honey." Unfortunately.

Kirsten watched Ryan for a moment. Unfortunately for Ryan.

* * *

Ryan noticed that, after the case was dropped, word got around quickly and everything started going back to normal. Oh, sure, people still thought he did it – except for the Cohens and his friends who had been with him from the very beginning – but they didn't say it out loud as much, either at school or elsewhere. And he _was_ still going to school. There had been some rumblings from the board and the parents' association about trying to expel him, but Sandy and Kirsten had stopped that in its tracks by threatening to sue the school if they made any move against him. 

No, Ryan's main problem now was Mr. Schmidt. Ever since the fire, and himself being accused of it, he'd noticed Mr. S. had been treating him differently. Like he was afraid of him. Afraid that any wrong move he made, any wrong thing he said, that Ryan would fly off the handle and attack him or something. Finally, one day, Ryan decided he had to say something, after watching Mr. Schmidt yell at several students in class for doing something that Ryan himself had also done, saying nothing to Ryan.

So he stayed in class after it was over. Once all the other students were gone, he took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Mr. Schmidt?"

When the teacher looked up from his papers and saw that it was Ryan, and that it was just the two of them there, Ryan could see him get nervous, his eyes darting around, like he was looking for backup. Ryan sighed and approached the desk slowly.

"Look. You don't have to treat me with kid gloves."

Mr. Schmidt cleared his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Ryan sighed. It figured he would say that. "Listen, I'm not the one who set your office on fire. You don't have to tiptoe around me. You can go back to treating me like everyone else. I'm not some high-strung psycho who's going to come after you for some little insult or something."

Mr. S. looked down and fiddled with the class papers. Ryan smiled to himself. He could tell that he'd hit the nail on the head. He couldn't help but turn the screw a little tighter.

"But, you know, since it wasn't me, we don't know who it was." He gestured around at the empty classroom. "It could have been anybody in this class, or one of your other classes. Maybe you should think about that."

Mr. Schmidt looked at Ryan in surprise. Obviously that had never occurred to him. Ryan smiled. "Think about it."

Then he left go to lunch, leaving the math teacher with a lot to think about.

* * *

**Epilogue**

Near the end of the school year, Ryan took some time on a Saturday morning to lay back on the pool house bed, stare at the ceiling, and think back on the last few months.

After the whole fire thing was kind of over, life and school went on. Anna left to go back to Pittsburgh. Luke was discovered having an affair with Julie Cooper, of all people, and later left town with his father and moved to Portland. Theresa came and went. The Nana came for Passover. Ryan himself got back together with Marissa. Julie and Caleb got engaged.

Ryan frowned to himself. But even through all that, people continued to think that he had set the fire. Although, as with his previous indiscretions, the amount of looks and comments he got decreased over time. It was too bad, though, that they'd never been able to find anything to clear him. And that they'd never know who really did it.

But then Ryan thought of something else which made him feel better.

Apparently Mr. Schmidt had taken Ryan's comments to heart. Before, he would yell at the students in his classes all the time. Usually, it was for some reason – that is, not for _no_ reason – but, still, usually for something petty, not worth yelling so much about. And when he wasn't yelling, he was so _boring_ that the students often drifted off and stopped paying attention. Ryan knew that he did, at least. But then when someone did, and got caught, they'd get yelled at for their inattentiveness. Ryan had heard one of his classmates liken it to what he's heard about being at war: long periods of boredom followed by short bursts of terror. No wonder all the kids hated Mr. Schmidt.

But ever since their little after-class chat, Mr. S. had really changed his ways and was treating all the students better, not just Ryan. He wasn't yelling so much. Hardly at all, in fact. And he even seemed to be treating the students with more respect. Perhaps it was respect based on fear – or wariness anyway – but at least it was respect. And students didn't seem to dread attending his classes any more, now that he was more easygoing.

Ryan smiled to himself. Maybe there was a silver lining to this cloud after all.

* * *

**The End**


End file.
